The Hidden Message in Moses Serpent

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up;  that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. (John 3:14-16 ASV).

The people of Israel were bitten by Serpents in the desert

When the people of Israel came out of Egypt they journeyed from Mount Hor the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul loathed this light bread.  And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died.  And the people came to Moses and said: “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee; pray unto Jehovah, that he takes away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.  And Jehovah said unto Moses: “Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a standard: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten when he sees it, shall live.  And Moses made a serpent of brass and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:4-9).

The desert, in this context, does not represent a geographical place, but an internal situation of the human being. According to religious thought, the desert designates things that the fallen man, leaving Egypt and enslaved by sin, wants to go back to it. But God’s objective is the development of our character. God wants us to return to the Garden from where man was expelled; to become a new creature, to grow spiritually, and become like Christ providing the environment we need to grow, the desert.

The disobedience’s consequences

God takes us through the desert, a process where he wants us to return to the “garden” where there was communion with Him. Man and woman knew God, but they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Since the man did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and maliciousness. They became gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:21-32).

With the disobedience to the Supreme Law, man and woman disconnected from the knowledge of their Creator and began to reason with their own knowledge. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12.

The consequences of that disobedience were such that the fear of dying deprogrammed our DNA and marked our genome. That is why the prophet says: "Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God." (Isaiah 2:22). Therefore, God says to man: “Because my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8).

Man could no longer reason with the mind of God, but when faced with the danger of death, like Darwin's animals, they reacted in a (fight or flight) mode, they chose the last, they left and hid among the trees of the garden. Now they were dominated by the fear of dying at any moment, which was not encoded in their DNA. The couple began to act by the unconscious, by the impulses of the flesh that activates (the limbic system) and not by the Spirit of God that comes from above (activating the cerebral cortex) and by neurotransmission sending his message to the rest of our physiology, guiding us to all truth and all justice. (John 16:12,13).

The desert as a purifying tool  

That is why Paul tells the Colossians to sacrifice the animal impulses in us: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Because of these the wrath of God is coming in these you too once walked, when you were living in them, (in Egypt). But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:5-17).

Peter says: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (1 Pedro 4:12-14).

Peter says: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (1 Pedro 4:12-14).

The Meaning of the Serpent

In Egypt, the serpent was the "Ureus", the sacred cobra of the pharaohs that is displayed in frontal symbolizing the initiation in the sacred rites where the knowledge of the hidden wisdom is reached. After the ascension she would become the cobra "Uadget", a supreme celestial being, the "Lady of Heaven", symbol of the fiery sun and the flame of fire, and that up there, she was the representation of the vital force. Despite the terrifying appearance of that snake, it was the representation, for the Egyptians, of the most basic being and its connection with the earth as a provider of life, strength, and protection. She was the drive that seeks survival by what motivates her to act. She was the basic fire to function day by day, not only as a primitive heartbeat but as the confidence and heat-mind from which the capacity for action, creativity, self-esteem, and basic motivations come out; the representation of the basic instincts that we all carry inside.

From this, we can learn that God used the serpents in the desert, to teach Moses and the people of Israel a lesson about what would be his salvation plan for us. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

In a letter, Paul writes to the Colossians he says that we have redemption through the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins.

"For this reason we also, from the day we heard it, have not ceased to pray for you, and to ask that you be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious might, unto all patience and longsuffering; with joy giving thanks to the Father who made us fit to participate in the inheritance of the saints in light; who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:9-14).